Taylor Momsen Opens Up About Leaving Gossip Girl: “I Really Didn’t Want to Be There”

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Taylor Momsen is now revealing the real reasons she left the show Gossip Girl.

The singer and actress discussed the difficulty of leaving her show in an interview on the Call Her Daddy podcast with Alex Cooper.

Blake Lively, who was known for her role as Jenny Humphrey throughout the show’s run, revealed she’d been finding it difficult to decide whether to leave and pursue a music career.

She said the decision itself was simple, but getting out of the contract was a difficult fight. She had to repeatedly explain to everyone involved that she needed to leave, as it was negatively impacting her well-being and she had other goals she wanted to pursue. She felt trapped and desperately wanted to move on with her life.

She said studio executives didn’t react well when she asked to leave the show. According to Momsen, some people at Warner Bros. Television even called her ungrateful for wanting to move on from such a popular series. She explained they essentially questioned her decision, asking how she could leave something that had been so good for her.

Unable to break free from her existing contract, Blake Momsen reached out to the creators of Gossip Girl, Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz, hoping they could assist her.

I was so impressed with how they handled things when I needed to leave the show. It wasn’t about letting me break my contract, they explained, but they were willing to write my character out of the storyline. I truly appreciated that—they really didn’t have to do that for me. It meant I could pursue my music and go on tour with my band, and I’ll always be grateful they were so understanding and accommodating.

Taylor Momsen left the show in 2010 after its fourth season and started performing with her band, The Pretty Reckless. While she’d been in films like How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Spy Kids 2 before, she explained that she’d always been most passionate about music.

Momsen explained that her departure from Gossip Girl was sudden. She described simply not being included in the scripts anymore. While the show’s producers knew she was pursuing music and had a band – she even played them some of her songs while filming – they didn’t realize how committed she was to her music career at the time.

Although she had left the show, Taylor Momsen came back for the last episode in 2012 because she wanted to give viewers a sense of completion. “I’m a TV fan myself, and I love seeing entire casts reunite,” she explained. “It’s important to bring storylines to a proper conclusion.”

Taylor Momsen is now famous as the lead singer of the rock band The Pretty Reckless, which has become very successful. Choosing to pursue her love of music proved to be a good decision, despite any challenges she faced.

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2025-11-06 16:14